Mike Weir rekindles Masters memories while Graham DeLaet heads home

For a few precious hours on Friday, it looked as if Mike Weir had turned back the Masters clock -- say 11 years.

After suffering through years of physical injuries and mental anguish and written off at the age of 43 as yesterday's man, Weir put himself right in the thick of things at the tournament that made him a household name in Canada.

He was tied for third after shooting a spectacular 32 on the front nine at the tournament he won in 2003. He was looking more like that guy than the golfer who had fallen to 692nd in the world rankings and missed the cut at the last three Masters.

He birdied four of the first nine holes and was looking like the Mike Weir of old. Seeing his name on the leader board no doubt warmed the cockles of many hearts among both Canadians and golf fans hoping he could turn things around and challenge again.

But although the left-hander has to be thrilled to be carrying Canada's hopes into the weekend, the back nine was one to forget. He recorded four bogeys and ended up even, sitting eight strokes back of leader Bubba Watson.

It wasn't what it could have been, but it was so much more than anyone expected.

“It was fun,” Weir told reporters afterward. “Things were rolling nicely. I just seemed to, you know, guess right. That’s what this kind of day was, with the wind swirling around: you pick a club and hope the wind stays the direction it’s blowing … and on the back, it seemed to do the opposite on a couple.”

Things unravelled quickly for Weir once he made the turn. He bogeyed the 10th and needed a clutch putt on 11 to avoid another. He overshot the green on 13, but made a spectacular chip and putt to save par again.

He did the same thing on 14, but couldn't make the putt this time and dropped another stroke. He flirted with disaster on the par-3, 176-yard 16th when his tee shot landed in the water.

But a great shot from the drop zone and another clutch putt kept the damage to one stroke. But another at 17 spoiled what could have been a spectacular day.

“Overall, it was a really good day," he said. ``If you’d given me even par starting today with that wind, I’d have taken it in a heartbeat. It’s fun to see some putts go in. This is really the first round all year that I made some putts.”

It is also really the first round in some time that Weir has been on a leader board and he will take that into Saturday's round.

“I was in contention," he said. ``I was trying to put myself in position for the weekend, and I’m not as close as I’d like, but I’m there. I’m encouraged. One guy [Watson] is up there, but it’s a tough golf course. One mis-step and you can make six-seven-eight out there.

“If I play well tomorrow, I can put myself right in this tournament.”

For now, nobody is discounting that possibility.

While Weir was happy with his opening rounds, fellow Canadian Graham DeLaet will have to be satisfied with the fact that he at least showed some improvement in his second and final round at this tournament.

After a disastrous opening 80, DeLaet bounced back Friday with a respectable 72. But his 8-0ver missed the cut by four strokes.

Despite talking confidently about his chances before his first Masters, DeLaet admitted that this is a course that values experience.

``It's so tricky, there's so many little intricacies, it takes time to learn, and get familiar with some of the bounces you're going to get," he told reporters Friday. ``I think it does take a few years to get the hang of this golf course, and it would have been nice to play a couple more rounds here this weekend. Unfortunately, I won't get that chance.

"At least today I was able to hit some golf shots and feel like I knew what I was doing a little bit."

DeLaet blamed his putting stroke for his disastrous start.

``I just needed to hole more putts," he said. ``If I had putted decent I would be even par right now instead of eight-over.

"The greens were just so much faster and trickier than I had anticipated ... it's hard to get the feel of how lightning-fast it is."

While he was mostly awful on Thursday -- bogeying six of his first seven holes -- he was simply erratic on Friday. He birdied four of his first 13 holes while recording three bogeys.